Transforming Theory: Innovations in Critical Trans Studies

Abstract

The field of Trans Studies has produced some of the most innovative, groundbreaking and exciting theoretical work of recent years. 2014 marked, according to TIME magazine, a 'transgender tipping point', with author Kathy Steinmetz optimistically claiming that 'America's next civil rights frontier' was soon to be breached. 1 The years since, however, have seen a remarkable backlash coinciding with the success of right-wing populism, not just in the US but in Brazil, Hungary, Turkey and Poland. Trans Studies and gender theory have borne the brunt of the right's attack on what it sees as 'cultural Marxism' in universities. Nevertheless, and perhaps even because of the marginalized perspectives it offers, criticalTrans Studies has had a major impact in the areas of psychoanalysis, queer theory, rights discourse and biopolitics, as well as on wider analyses of state power and capitalism in the 21 st century. This article will offer an analysis of recent key texts in Trans Studies as well as an account of its development and tendencies, from experimentation with the 'genre' of theory

Does Ontario’s Ministry of Education Promote Critical Theory in K-12 Education?

“…Critical Trans Studies also rejects the Western model (i.e., scientific, empirical) of producing knowledge, and welcomes flouting accepted conventions by using first-person narrative accounts, and rejecting neutrality and objectivity as detached from Lived Experience (Evans, 2019). Marginalization is key to Transdisciplinarianism (Russell & Cameron, 2016); Theorists in this area often, and should, according to this discipline, exploit a position of Marginality to attack dominant norms governing not only Gender but also issues ranging from state security initiatives, the production of pharmaceuticals, to the prison-industrial complex (Evans, 2019). Evans discusses Transdisciplinary scholars, such as Dean Spade, for whom a Critical Trans politics is one which demands more than legal recognition and inclusion, seeking instead to transform civil society and the state itself in the name of social equality.…”

“…Under a Frame Analysis, these dramatic stories, told intentionally in first person narratives (Bohman, 2005;Tate, 1997;Evans, 2019), plant the seeds for a collective action frame (Benford, 1997), where society is encouraged to join the fight to defeat injustice. In this, Benford argues that a Frame Analysis allows us to explore the reification of constructs necessary to contemporary Critical Theory, despite its Theorists' denials that this is what they are doing (Prewitt, 2016).…”

“…As noted above, both of these findings are statistically significant. According to Critical Theorists, Neoliberalism is the enemy of Social Justice (Aronson & Laughter, 2016;Evans, 2019;Shah et al, 2022). There are only six mentions of term Neoliberal or Neoliberalism in Ministry publications, all of which are in the Era 2012-2016.…”

A Call to Revolution: Critical Theory from German Neo-Marxism to a Canadian Theory of Education

“…Critical Trans Theory also rejects the western model (i.e., scientific, empirical) of producing knowledge, and welcomes flouting accepted conventions by using first-person narrative accounts, and rejecting neutrality and objectivity as detached from lived experience (Evans, 2019). Marginalization is key to transdisciplinarianism (Russell & Cameron, 2016), useful to attack dominant norms governing not only gender but also issues ranging from state security initiatives, the production of pharmaceuticals, to the prison-industrial complex (Evans, 2019). Like other Critical Theory activism, Critical Trans politics demands more than legal recognition and inclusion, seeking instead to transform civil society and the state itself (Evans, 2019).…”

“…Marginalization is key to transdisciplinarianism (Russell & Cameron, 2016), useful to attack dominant norms governing not only gender but also issues ranging from state security initiatives, the production of pharmaceuticals, to the prison-industrial complex (Evans, 2019). Like other Critical Theory activism, Critical Trans politics demands more than legal recognition and inclusion, seeking instead to transform civil society and the state itself (Evans, 2019).…”